Written by

Larry Shyatt

Preseason MW Media Poll

Mountain West schools start their college basketball seasons Friday and to get fans ready, the Coloradoan is bringing a rapid-fire preview of all nine conference teams.

Listed in the order of which they were predicted to finish by the media and coaches, the bottom four schools are previewed below. If you missed Tuesday’s preview, visit Coloradoan.com for a look at the league’s top five programs, including Colorado State.

6. Wyoming

Coach: Larry Shyatt

Last season: 21-12 (sixth in MW)

Cowboys coach Larry Shyatt admitted last week unlike his players and fans, his favorite part about college basketball isn’t the games but getting on the court to practice.

Sure, the reward of winning is great, but it’s the preparation for the final result that gets him most excited.

Entering the second year of his second stint at Wyoming, the College of Wooster graduate has two returning starters from a team that made the CBI. And they are good ones in guard Luke Martinez (11.8 points per game) and forward Leonard Washington (12.9 points per game).

With two exhibition games in the books, Shyatt feels the Cowboys still need work defensively but offensively look solid.

“We need to be an extra-pass offensive team, but we need to get stops and rely on getting stops to irritate other people with their inability to score against us,” Shyatt said “If we can do that, we can be a good ball club and grow down the road with a lot of good newcomers.”

Standing out in both of Wyoming’s exhibition games has been sophomore Larry Nance Jr. Saturday against Wooster, he recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and on Oct. 31 dropped 21 against Fort Lewis College.

7. Fresno State

7. Fresno State

Coach: Rodney Terry

Last season: 13-20 (seventh in WAC)

One of two MW newcomers this year, Fresno State has a significant opportunity to surprise a lot of teams under the direction of second-year coach Rodney Terry. With three starters back, the Bulldogs have tools to make noise, led by junior guard Kevin Olekaibe, who scored 17.8 points per game last season.

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Terry, who spent 10 seasons as an assistant under Rick Barnes at Texas before taking the head coaching position at Fresno State, has watched the MW from afar and has always been impressed with the conference’s depth.

“The talent level of the Mountain West has always been very high. Anytime you look at the strength of a league, you look at the talent, you look at the venues, you look at the coaches. Not just at the upper half, but the entire league,” Terry said. “Over the last four to five years, there’s a lot of parity.”

The top attributes Terry said Fresno State will bring this year are a strong defense and the ability to crash the glass. In search of the Bulldogs’ first winning season since 2006-07, physicality will be vital to their success.

8. Boise State

8. Boise State

Coach: Leon Rice

Last season: 13-17 (T7 in MW)

Boise State fielded talent last season but was crippled by how much youth it had on the roster, especially early in the season. As the year went on, that inexeperienced unit learned how to play together and reeled off three consecutive wins over Air Force, CSU and TCU near the end of the schedule.

Even in the Mountain West Tournament, the Broncos came within a three-pointer of taking San Diego State to overtime.

Seeing the development of his team, third-year Boise State coach Leon Rice admits the Broncos will be young again but feels refreshed by the dedication and talent on the court.

“Even though they’re mostly sophomores and freshmen, it just feels like there’s a little more experience this year,” Rice said. “We’re really excited about the jump they’ve made so far and looking forward to getting the season under way.”

Boise State has a daunting nonconference schedule. Oakland, Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU all come to Taco Bell Arena and the Broncos must travel to No. 14 Michigan State, No. 16 Creighton and Utah in a two-week span.

Rice said those games will only help improve Boise State and prepare it for a difficult MW slate.

9. Air Force

9. Air Force

Coach: Dave Pilipovich

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Last season: 13-16 (T7 in MW)

Serving as interim coach might have been the most valuable experience Dave Pilipovich ever had.

After Jeff Reynolds was fired with eight games left in the season, Pilipovich posted a 2-6 record, but one of those wins came against No. 15 SDSU, which sparked hope for the future.

“I was thrown into the fire in a difficult situation, so I had to try and put some band aids on some wounds and patch up some holes and not let the water come through,” Pilipovich said. “I was learning on the fly every minute.

“That emergency situation last year probably prepared me with some game action, but then in the offseason let us look at how we were playing at the end of the season and ask about ‘how do we want to play now?’ It’s been good for us.”

The Falcons return an experienced squad with four senior starters that Pilipovich said is an extremely tight-knit bunch driven to improve in their final season. The most well-known of the group is 6-foot-5 senior Michael Lyons who’s averaged better than 14 points per game in the past two seasons combined.

With a team that’s expected to play faster, with more enthusiasm and not let mistakes slow it down too much, players like Lyons, Todd Fletcher, Mike Fitzgerald and Taylor Broekhuis will go a long way toward getting Air Force back to the postseason.